Chuseok, or the Full-Moon Harvest Festival, also dubbed the Korean Thanksgiving is one of the country’s biggest traditional holidays. Nearly 30 million out of South Korea’s population of 50 million will visit their hometown during the three-day holiday which ended October 1.

The Imjingak pavilion, a well-known tourist destination, is located just south of the demilitarized zone which divides the Korean peninsula into the capitalist South and communist North. It is the closest point to the inter-Korean border, where visitors are allowed to observe the North’s territory from the South without any specific government approval. The northern tip of the Paju city which the Imjingak area belongs to is only 130 miles south of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

With almost seven months atop a crane, a 51-year old woman trade unionist is staging a solo protest to end layoffs at a shipyard in South Korea.

Kim Jin-Suk, 51, climbed the 35-meter tall crane in the Yeongdo shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) in Busan, the hub of South Korea’s shipbuilding industry on January 6 this year and has been there ever since to protest against what she says are “mass layoffs” at the country’s former biggest shipbuilder.

On June 13, 2002, when South Korea, Japan and the rest of the world were captivated by the 2002 FIFA World Cup, a 50-tonne U.S. army vehicle crushed two South Korean schoolgirls to death during a drill in Yangju, north of Seoul. The girls, Shin Hyo-soon and Shim Mi-seon, both 14, were on their way to a friend’s birthday party.

Thousands of South Koreans protested for several months to demand then-U.S. President George Bush apologize directly for the incident and hand over the U.S. soldiers involved to South Korean court.

MALLIPO BEACH, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed retaliation against any further provocation by the North after it attacked an island last week as anger grew at the government’s weak response.

Lee made his first address to the nation since Tuesday’s attack as U.S. and South Korean warships took part in military maneuvers, prompting concern in regional power China and threats of all-out war from North Korea.

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – China came under heavy pressure to tame its ally North Korea on Wednesday after the reclusive state attacked South Korea, while the United States moved to cool tension in the economically powerful region.

U.S. President Barack Obama, woken up in the early hours to be told of the artillery strike on a South Korean island, said he was outraged but declined to speculate on possible U.S. military action.

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea warned North Korea on Tuesday of “enormous retaliation” if it took more aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent fighter jets to the area, close to a disputed maritime border on the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.

INCHEON, South Korea, Nov 24 (Reuters) – South Korea warned
North Korea of “enormous retaliation” if it took more
aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery
shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks
on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent
fighter jets to the area, near a disputed maritime border on
the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of
deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.

INCHEON, South Korea, Nov 23 (Reuters) – South Korea warned
North Korea on Tuesday of “enormous retaliation” if it took
more aggressive steps after Pyongyang fired scores of artillery
shells at a South Korean island in one of the heaviest attacks
on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The South fired back after Tuesday’s attack and sent
fighter jets to the area, close to a disputed maritime border
on the west of the divided Korean peninsula and the scene of
deadly clashes between the two rivals in the past.

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island, killing two soldiers and setting houses ablaze, in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The attack, with South Korea returning fire came as the reclusive state has been pressing regional powers to return to negotiations about its nuclear weapons program, and it follows revelations at the weekend that Pyongyang is fast developing another source of material to make atomic bombs.

About Lee

"Lee Jae-Won studied Hungarian language and journalism in South Korea before beginning his photographic career in 1997. He has been Reuters’ Korea chief photographer in Seoul since 2002. He has covered a range of stories from the daily news, features, finance and earthquake disaster to big sport events like the Olympic Games and World Cup in various countries such as Japan, Vietnam, South Africa, China and North Korea. He has a keen interest in covering multimedia production, features and social issues."